Impression making or printing means



Allg- 1938. M. BAYERDORFFER I IMPRESSION MAKING OR PRINTING MEANS FiledMarch 16, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR M. Bayrrdar/fil ATTORN EY Aug.9,, 1938. M. BAYERDORFFER IMPRESSION MAKING OR PRINTING MEANS FiledMarch 16, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 9, 1938 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFlCE Application March 16,

6 Claims.

This invention relates to means for making impressions or imprints uponarticles, and while the invention is adapted for various purposes anduses, it is particularly adapted to impress or -imprint andsimultaneously 'gilt characters or other indicia on articles, such asthe name of the purchaser or user of a hat impressed or imprinted uponthe sweat band of hats, and characters and indicia on the wood casing ofpencils.

In apparatus of this character there is provided a platen to receive andsupport the article upon which the impression or imprint is to be madeand impression making means and one of which is fixed and one adapted tohave impression making movement toward and away from the other, the

impression means comprising a series of juxtaposed wheels arranged withimpression making or printing devices circumferentially spaced about theperiphery of the wheels and the wheels inde- 0 pendently adjustable onerelative to the others to aline in a row predetermined printing devices,such as characters, on the wheels, and it is an object of the inventionto provide improved means selectively adjustable and operative toindependently adjust the wheels one relative to the others and effectaccurate alinement of printing devices or characters on the wheels andyielding detent means .to releasably retain the selectively adjustablemeans :in position to adjust the wheels and 3 retain the wheels inadjusted positions with the printing devices vor characters inalinernent. I

"Inapparatus of this character instead of using ink or the like to makethe impression or imprint such material comprises a metallic foil, suchas. aluminum, silver or gold leaf, in theform of a web interposedbetween the platen and impression making or printing devices, theimpression making or imprinting devices being arranged to sever thecharacter or other symbol to be impressed -or doimprinted on .anarticlefrom the metallic web, and to cause the same to adhereto thearticle heat and pressure is applied to the impression making means forwhichpurpose the impression I making means is heated, and it is anotherobject of the invention to provide .an improved con-.-

struction and arrangement of impression making means and supporttherefor to apply .-a heating device axially to and heat the support forand the impression making means radially outward from the ,axis andcomprising :an electric heating unit adapted. to be removably :mountedina hol low or tubular supportin shaft for the wheelsof the impressi nmaking m ans.

Qther bjects and advantages. of

so will hereinaf er appear,

the invention 1937, Serial No. 131,173

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this, applicationFigure l is a front elevation of impression making or printing apparatusembodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation looking at the left of Figure 1.

Figure 3is a sectional detail view of selectively settable means toadjust the wheels of the impression making means and showing detentmeans for retaining it in adjusted position.

Figure 4 is .a sectional detail view of the platen and a portion or itsactuating means and a portion .of the wheels with the impression makingdevices and showing the platen moved toward the impression making meansand impressing an article thereon into contact with the impressionmaking means to make an impression or imprint on the article.

Figure'5 is a fragmentary view looking at the top of a portion of thewheels with the impression making devices and a portion of the means toen gage and hold said wheels in position with the impression makingdevices thereof in alinement; and

Figure 6 is a detail cross sectional view to show the'mounting of thewheels arranged with the impression making devices and the constructionand arrangement of the means co-operating with and holding said wheelsagainst movement.

In carrying out the embodiment of the invention illustrated in thedrawings there is provided a supporting frame for the operative partsincluding a base B arranged with a pedestal P and an upstanding portionS in the rear of the pedestal having a bifurcated portion A extendingforwardly therefromwith the bifurcation arms spaced apart andoverhanging the pedestal.

A platen in the form of a horizontal flat support or table T for thearticle upon which the impression or imprint is to be made is supportedto have reciprocatory movement in a vertical plane by a post I extendedfrom the bottom thereof slidably engaging in a bore in the pedestal P.Imprints or impressions are adapted to be made upon an article, such asa sheet of leather, paper and the like, supported on the face of theplaten, and means are provided to position the sheet on the platen inregister with impression making or imprinting means in register withimpression making or imprinting means to make an impression inpredetermined position on the sheet on the platen. For this purpose agauge 8 extends transversely of the platen for the abutting and gaugingsecured in adjusted position by set screws 9 threaded into openings inportions [0 at the ends of the gauge extended about the sides and belowthe platen and adapted to be impinged against the under side of theplaten. A further gauge H is provided for a side edge of the sheet, inthe present instance shown to gauge the right hand edge, and adaptedtohave adjustment to the right or left, said gauge being adjustablymounted on the gauge 8 and secured in adjusted position by a set screwl2 extended through a slot in the gauge l l and threaded into the gauge8.

To impart reeiprocatory movement to the platen a shaft I3 is rotatablymounted in a transverse boss M at the front of the pedestal P, the shaftbeing provided With gear teeth IS on the portion within the boss, asshown in dotted lines in Figure 4, meshing with rack teeth I 6 arrangedin the portion of the platen supporting post 1 within the pedestal P.The shaft is rotated by a hand lever l'l fixed on the shaft I 3 toimpart impression making movement to the platen, and the platen is urgeddownwardly out of impression making position by a spring l8. To gaugeand limit the upward movement of the platen an abutment is adjustablycarried by the platen and adapted to engage a fixed part of theframework, and shown as a nut l9 threaded onto a stem 20 extended fromthe bottom of the platen inthe rear of the post I and through an openingin a connecting and reinforcing rib of the framework extending betweenthe pedestal P and the upstanding portion S of the framework. Theabutment is threaded onto the stem below the rib 2| and by the upwardmovement of the platen as it reaches the limit of such movement theabutment it engages the rib 2|, and by rotating the nut onto or off fromthe stem such movement of the platen is controlled and limited. To gaugepencils having wood enclosing casings on the platen to make animpression in and/or imprint thereon there is provided a transversegroove of angular form in cross section in the face of the platen, asshown at 22 in Figure 2, the depth of the groove being such that when apencil 23 is engaged therein the upper surface will be substantiallyflush or project slightly above the face of the table. When impressionsor imprints are to be made upon sheets the upper portion of the grooveis arranged as a slideway for the engagement of a closure plate of athickness so as to be flush with the face of the platen, as shown at 24in Figure 2. The plate may be made in sections and one section engage inthe slideway to serve as a gauge for the end of the pencil 23 andsecured in gauging position by a set screw 25, as shown in Figure 1.

The impression making or printing means comprises a series of impressionmaking wheels 26 loosely mounted in juxtaposed or contiguous relation ona support in the form of a tubular or hollow shaft 21 fixed in andextending between the arms of the forwardly projecting portion A of theframework with the axis of the support or shaft superposed to andextending parallelly of the center line of the groove in the platen P.Each of the wheelshas impression making devices, such as characters orsymbols, equidistantly spaced about the same. In the present instancethe wheels are provided with equidistantly spaced teeth, and are in thenature of gears, with the impression making devices arranged upon theperiphery or apex of the teeth, as shown at 28, with at least one toothor a portion thereof of each wheel removed or undercut to provide aspace between the teeth of adjacent wheels adapted to be alined withteeth and thus be able to make impressions of a number of words or namesor single words or names having a different number of letters. The teethof the wheels are of less thickness than the body of the wheels with oneside of the teeth arranged flush with one side of the wheels, as clearlyshown at the left in Figure 4, providing an annular shoulder 26' at theopposite side of the wheels which may have a diameter substantially thesame as the root diameter of the teeth and effected by undercutting theperipheral portion of the wheels with the teeth. The wheels areassembled on the support therefor with the side of the wheels with theundercut portion 26' contiguous to the side of the adjacent'wheel flushwith the side of the teeth and thus providing a space between the toothportions or character of adjacent wheels, as shown at 39 in Figures 4and 5.

The wheels 26 are adapted to be rotatably adjusted one independently ofthe others whereby to aline the teeth of the wheels with selected orpredetermined characters thereon in a row, and means are provided toretain the wheels in adjusted positions with the teeth thereof in alinedrows.

To independently or individually adjust the wheels 26 on the wheelsupport one relative to the others to aline in a row teeth of the wheelshaving desired or predetermined characters in printing or impressionmaking position and in line with and below the axis of the wheels inopposed relation to the gauge recess or groove 22 in the platen P, meansare provided to rotate on an axis parallelly of the axis of the wheels26 and have axial adjustment to cause said means to co-operate with andadjust any one of the wheels 26. As shown this means comprises a toothedwheel 38 fixed on a shaft 39 mounted in ears 40 extending forwardly anddiverging upwardly from the bifurcated arms A to have rotative and axialmovement with the wheel 58 positioned on the shaft between the ears 40.To manually rotate the shaft and wheel 38 a hand engaging knob 4| isfixed on one end of the shaft, in the present instance the right handend as viewed in Figure 1.

The shaft 39 and wheel 38 are axially adjustable to position the wheel38 with the teeth thereof in mesh with the teeth of any one of theimpression making wheels 26, and to selectively axially adjust the shaftand set the wheel 38 with the teeth in mesh with a predeterminedimpression making wheel 25, means are 'provided to adjust the shaft 39axially increments of like movement and equal to the spacing orthickness of the impression making wheels 26,

'yieldingly retain the shaft 39in adjusted position and permit .ofrotation of the shaft and thereby of the toothed wheel 38 in adjustedposition and the impression making wheel 26 the teeth of which are inmesh with the teeth of said wheel 38. For this purpose, as shown, theend portion of the shaft 39 opposite the knob 4| and projecting from anear 4!) is arranged as a ion 45 is rotated one tooth space in eitherdirection the shaft 39 will be adjusted axially an increment of movementequal to the spacing of the impression making wheels 26, the shaft 43having a hand engaging knob fixed thereon to facilitate themanualrotating of the shaft. To releasably retain the shaft 43 and thereby theshaft 39 in adjusted positions a second pinion 46 is fixed on the shaft43 having the same number of teeth as the pinion 43 with which pinion 46a spring influenced detent is adapted to co-operate, and shown as a ball4.? carried in an opening in a plate 48 fixed to the bracket 44 and theball urged in a direction toward the pinion 46 to engage a tooth spacethereof by a spring plate 49 fixed at one end to the plate 48 with thefree end engaging the ball and tensioned to urge the ball toward thepinion 46. Itwill be obvious that as the shaft 39is adjusted ,by thepinion 45 and the latter is retained against rotation by the ball 41engaging a tooth of the pinion 46 that the engagement of one of theannular ribs on the shaft 39 with the pinion will 'permit of rotation ofthe shaft 39 in either of its adjusted positions and the setting oradjusting of any one of the impression making wheels 26.

As stated the row of the teeth of the impression making wheels 26 belowand alined with the axis of the wheel support 2! in opposed relation tothe center line of the groove 22 in the platen P are the impressionmaking devices of the wheels from which the impression or imprint is tobe made, and to facilitate the adjusting and setting of the impressionmaking wheels 26 so that teeth of said wheels with the desired orpredetermined characters thereon will be alined in a row below the axisof the wheel support 21, index means is provided comprising charactersor other symbols on the tooth spaces of the wheels. 26, as at 59,corresponding with the impression making devices or characters on theapex of the teeth of the wheels 26. The characters are so arranged'onthe tooth spaces that such characters alined with an index or pointer 5|fixed to the side of the framework with the extremity extended over andin the direction of the wheels 26, as shown in Figure 5, will correspondwith the impression making devices or characters on the teeth of thewheels alined in impression making position below the axis of thewheels'26.

To adjust and set the impression making wheels 29 to aline teeth thereonwith desired or prede termined impression making devices thereon be lowthe axis of the wheels, the shaft 39 is axially adjusted to mesh theteeth of the wheel 38 with the teeth of the wheel 23 at either end ofthe series of said wheels by the rotation of the shaft 43, when theshaft 39 is rotated by the knob 4| and thereby rotatably adjusting thewheel 26 in mesh with the wheel 31%! until the. character on the toothspace of such wheel 2.6 corresponding to the character on the tooth ofthe wheel 26 to be positioned below the axis of the wheels 26 andindicating that such tooth is alined below the axis of the wheel comesopposite to and in alinement with the pointer 5!. The shaft 39 is thenaxially adjusted by the rotation of the shaft 43 to mesh the teeth ofwheel 38 with the teeth of the next adjacent wheel'ZEi, or any other oneof said wheels desired to be adjusted to set the same with a desiredcharacter on a tooth positioned in alinement below the axis of thewheels 23, and this operation is continued or repeated until all of thewheels 29 have been adjusted to aline teeth with the desired charactersbelow the axis of the wheels .'as indicated by the characters on thetooth spaces in line with the pointer 5|. I

To hold the adjusted impression making wheels 26 in adjusted positionand permit of adjustment of one of said wheels 26 there is provided abar 29 having a longitudinal portion adapted to engage in alined toothedspaces of the wheels arranged in cross sectional shape to correspond tothe shape of the tooth spaces between the teeth 28 of the wheels 2.6, asshown in Figure 6. The bar 29 is adapted to have longitudinal movementin alined tooth spaces in synchronism with the axial adjustment of theshaft 39. For this purpose the bar 29 is connected to the shaft 39 toparticipate the axial adjustment of the shaft by arms 30 that may beintegral with the bar 29 or separate therefrom and connected to the bar,said arms being secured to the shaft 39 to extend rearwardly therefrom,the arm 39' at the left as viewed in Figure 5 being secured to the endof the shaft 39 by a screw BI and the opposite arm to the opposite endof the shaft 39 by the knob 4|. To retain the bar 29 in engagement inalined tooth spaces of the wheels 26 and permit of longitudinal slidingmovement of the bar the bar is extended through an opening in plates 32secured, as by screws, to the outer side of the opposite arms A of theframewark. To permit of rotatable adjustment of the wheels 26 the bar 29is provided with a transverse slot in the portion of the bar formed incross section to the shape of the tooth spaces, as shown at 29 in Figure6, said slot being of a width slightly greater than the thickness of theteeth 28 of the wheels 26 to permit of the ready passage of the toothportion of a wheel 26 by the rotation of said wheel. The slot 29 isarranged in the bar 29 in alinement with the wheel 38 on the shaft 39,and the bar 29 and the shaft 39 are of a length and the slot 29 arrangedin the bar 29 so that when the shaft and bar are adjusted to the extremeleft hand end position the bar slot 29' will be at the outer side of thewheel 26 at the extreme left of the series of wheels. By the adjustmentof the shaft 39 axially to mesh the wheel 38 with a desired wheel 26 tobe rotat ably adjusted the bar 29 will be correspondingly longitudinallyadjusted and the slot 29 positioned in alinement with the wheel 26 theteeth of which are in mesh with the wheel 38 and which is to be adjustedby the rotation of the wheel 38 and permit such wheel 26 to pass throughsuch slot while the other wheels 26 are held against rotation by the bar29.

Instead of utilizing ink or the like to make the,

impression or imprint a metallic foil, such as aluminum, silver, andpreferably gold leaf, is utilized and interposed between the platen Pand impression making devices on the teeth of the wheels 26. For thispurpose the impression making devices or characters are in relief toserve as cutters or dies to sever the character or other symbol from thegold leaf as the impression making device is brought into contact withthe gold leaf against the article 'or sheet on the platen P. The goldleaf or other metallic foil is of such a nature that by the applicationof heat simultaneously with the impression making pressure it willadhere to the article to which it is applied. For this purpose means isprovided to heat the impression making wheels 26 from the axis radiallyoutward to the impression making devices on the teeth thereof, and, asshown, comprising an electric heating unit 32 of circular form in crosssection to fit snugly in and substantially of a length equal to thelength .of the hollow or tubular supporting shaft 21 for the wheels 26.This heating unit is adapted to be engaged axially into one end of saidshaft 21, as shown in dot and dash lines in Figure 1, and has electricconductors connected thereto for connecting it with a source of electriccurrent, the conductors being carried by a cable 53.

The gold leaf is in the form of a web W wound about a core whereby it isloosely mounted on a support 54 between a pair of heads 55, 56, the onehead 56 being loose on the support 54 to have sliding movement thereonand is urged toward the other head by a spring 57 confined between saidhead and a collar 58 secured on the support. The web W is guided betweenthe impression making wheels and platen over a roller 54' rotatablycarried on the intermediate portion of a U-shaped member 59 mounted inbrackets 60 fixed to the framework by extending the end portions throughopenings in said brackets and retained therein by thumb nuts 65 on theends thereof, as shown in Figure 3. The web W is fed intermittentlybetween the impression making wheels 26 and platen P by a pair ofrollers 62, 53 and the Waste portion of the web is wound upon the roller62. The roller 62 is rotatable in fixed position, and the roller 63 issupported by and rotated from the roller 62, said roller 53 havingtrunnions at the opposite ends whereby it is mounted to rotate and havemovement toward and away from the roller 62 in guideways 64 in brackets65 fixed to the rear of the upstanding portion S of the framework andurged toward the roller 62 by springs 66 coiled about stems 6'!vertically slidable in tubular portions of a plate 68 fixed on thebrackets 65 with the springs confined between said plate 88 and thetrunnions of the roller. The feed rollers are operatively connected toand rotated from the movement of the platen P into and out of impressionmaking position. For this purpose a ratchet 69 is rotatable with theroller 62 and actuated from the oscillations of a lever 70, the leverbeing operatively connected to the ratchet wheel by a pawl slidablycarried by one arm of the lever and urged into engagement with theratchet wheel by a spring, as at 12. As the lever is moved in onedirection the pawl will engage with and rotate the ratchet wheel andthereby the rollers 62, 63 to feed the web between the rollers, and thepawl will ride over the teeth of the ratchet wheel during the movementof said lever in the opposite direction. The lever, it! is operativelyconnected to the platen P by a link '13 pivotally connected atone end,asat M, to the platen and at the opposite end to an arm of a lever 75pivoted on the framework, and the lever 75 connected to the lever 19 bya link l6 pivotally connected at one end to the lever 75 and theopposite end having an adjustable connection 1'! with the lever I0.

While one embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and describedit will be obvious that various modifications may be made in theconstruction and arrangement of the parts without departing from thescope of the invention, and that portions of the invention may be usedwithout others and come within the scope of the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In impression making means, a fixed support, a plurality of toothedWheels arranged with impression making characters on the teeth thereof,the teeth being of less thickness than the body of the wheels with aface of the teeth extending in the plane of a side of the wheel andarranging the wheel with an annular shoulder at the opposite side of theteeth and said wheels being mounted on the support to have independentrotative adjustment to aline predetermined characters on the teeth ofthe wheels and the wheels arranged with the side having the annularshoulder contiguous to the side of an adjacent wheel extending in theplane of a side of the teeth and axially space the teeth of adjacentwheels, a plate fixed on the support at each end of the Wheels andhaving an opening in line' with the tooth portion of the wheels, alongitudinally adjustable bar engaged in said plate openings and inalined tooth spaces of the wheels arranged with a transverse slotintermediate the ends adapted by the adjustment of the bar to be placedin register with any one of the wheels to permit of rotative adjustmentof said wheel and hold the other wheels against rotation and retain allof the wheels in adjusted posi tions in one position of adjustment ofthe bar, a gear connected to and adjustable'with the bar rotatable inthe plane of'the bar slot operative by the rotation thereof to adjustthe impression making wheel registering with said bar slot, and meansconnected to the gear operative to adjust the gear and bar increments ofmovement of equal length and yieldingly retain the gear and bar inadjusted positions.

2. In impression making means, a fixed support, a plurality of Wheelshaving teeth equidistantly spaced about and projecting from theperiphery thereof arranged with impression makmg characters on the apexof the teeth, and said wheels mounted on the support in juxtaposedrelat1on and to have independent rotative adustment one relative to theother to aline teeth of the juxtaposed wheels having predeterminedcharacters thereon, a shaft supported to rotate on an axis parallelly ofthe axis of the toothed wheels and have axial adjustment, a pinion fixedon said shaft adapted by the axial adjustment of the shaft to be meshedwith the teeth of any one of the juxtaposed wheels and by the rotationof the pinion with the shaft rotate said wheel in mesh therewith, a barengaging and longitudinally adjustable in alined tooth spaces of thejuxtaposed wheels mounted on the pinion carrying shaft to extendparallelly of and participate in the axial adjustment of said shaft,said bar having a transverse slot therein in line with the pinion on theshaft adapted to be registered with the juxtaposed wheel in mesh withthe pinion and permit rotative adjustment of said juxtaposed wheel bythe rotation of the pinion with the shaft and hold the other juxtaposedwheels against rotation and said bar adapted to be positioned by theadjustment thereof with the pinion carrying shaft to hold all of thejuxtaposed wheels against rotation in adjusted positions, means slidablyengaged by the bar to hold the bar in position to engage alined toothspaces of the wheels, and manually actuated means connected to thepinion carrying shaft operative to axially adjust said shaft with thepinion and bar increments of movement equal to the spacing of thejuxtaposed toothed wheels and retain the shaft with the bar in adjustedposition against axial movement while permitting rotation of the shaftin its adjusted positions.

3. Impression making means as claimed in claim 2, wherein the means toaxially adjust the pinion carrying shaft comprises a pinion rotatable onan axis extending transversely of the axis of the pinion carrying shaftand meshing with annular ribs on the pinion carrying shaft formed byannular grooves in said shaft, and detent means to yieldi-ngly retainthe second pinion against rotary movement in mesh with an annular rib onthe pinion carrying shaft and there'- by retain said shaft against axialmovement in the adjusted positions thereof and permit rotation of said.pinion carrying shaft.

4. In impression making means, a fixed shaft, a plurality of wheelshaving teeth equidistantly spaced about and projecting from theperiphery thereof arranged with impression making devices thereon andthe wheels mounted on said shaft in juxtaposed relation to haveindependent rotative movement one relative to the other to aline teeththereof having predetermined impression making devices, a shaftsupported to rotate on an axis extending parallelly of the axis of thefixed shaft and to have axial adjustment and said shaft arranged withequidistantly spaced annular ribs on an end portion thereof and a hand'knobon the other end to rotate the shaft, a

gear fixed on said shaft adapted by the axial adjustment of the shaft tobe meshed with the teeth of any one of the juxtaposed toothed wheels andoperative by the rotation of the shaft to rotate said toothed wheel inmesh therewith to aline a tooth with a predetermined character thereonwith teeth of the other wheels having predetermined characters, a pinionrotatable on an axis extending transversely of the axis of the gearcarrying shaft and adapted to mesh with the annular ribs on said shaftand by the rotation of said pinion adjust the gear carrying shaftaxially in opposite directions increments of movement equal to thespacing of the juxtaposed toothed wheels and adapted to hold said gearcarrying shaft in adjusted position against axial movement whilepermitting rotation of said shaft, a spring influenced detent means topermit of intermittent rotative movement of 'said second pinion andeffect axial adjustment of saidgear carrying shaft and hold the pinionagainst rotation and thereby retain the gear carrying shaft in axialadjusted position while permitting rotation of said shaft and the gearthereon to effect rotative adjustment of the toothed wheel in mesh withsaid gear, a bar mounted on and extending parallelly of the gearcarrying shaft to participate in the axial adjustment of said shaft,said bar engaging and slidable longitudinally in alined toothed spacesof the juxtaposed toothed wheels and having a transverse slot therein inline with the gear on the shaft and adapted to be registered with thetoothed wheel in mesh with the gear to permit rotative adjustment ofsaid toothed wheel by the gear and hold the other toothed wheels againstrotation, and said bar in one position of adjustment with the shaftadapted to hold all of the juxtaposed wheels against rotation, and meansto hold the bar in engagement with alined tooth spaces of the wheels andprevent the bar participating in the rotary movement of the gearcarrying shaft.

5. In impression making means, a frame, a hollow shaft fixed in theframe, a plurality of toothed wheels mounted in juxtaposed relation onsaid shaft to have independent rotative adjustment one relative to theothers and having impression making characters on the periphery of theteeth, a shaft mounted to rotate on an axis parallelly of the axis ofthe hollow shaft and axially adjustable, said shaft having a handengaging knob on one end to manually rotate the shaft and equidistantlyspaced annular ribs on the opposite end portion, a toothed wheel fixedon said shaft adapted to be meshed with the teeth of any one of thejuxtaposed toothed wheels by the axial adjustment of its carrying shaftand in said position by the rotation of said shaft independently rotatethe toothed wheel in mesh therewith whereby to position predeterminedteeth of the juxtaposed wheels in 'alinement, means to axially adjustthe axially adjustable shaft increments of movement equal to the spacingof the juxtaposed toothed wheels comprising a shaft rotatable on an axistransversely of the axially adjustable shaft and having a pinion thereonadapted to mesh with the annular ribs on the axially adjustable shaft, asecond pinion on said transverse shaft, a spring influenced detentengaging the teeth of the second pinion to yieldingly retain saidtransverse shaft against rotation and thereby the axially adjustableshaft in axial adjusted position and permit rotation of said lattershaft, and a bar extending parallelly of and connected to the axiallyadjustable shaft to participate in the axial adjustment thereof, saidbar engaging in alined tooth spaces of the juxtaposed wheels and havinga transverse slot therein in the plane of rotation of the toothedwheelon the axially adjustable shaft and adapted 3 to be registered withand permit rotation of the juxtaposed wheel in mesh with the toothedwheel on the axially adjustable shaft and the bar retain the otherjuxtaposed wheels against rotation and in one adjusted position thereofwith the axially adjustable shaft hold all of the juxtaposed wheelsagainst rotation.

6. In impression making means, a fixed shaft, a plurality of wheelshaving teeth equidistantly spaced about and projecting from theperiphery thereof arranged with impression making devices thereon andthe wheels mounted on said shaft in juxtaposed relation to haveindependent rotative movement one relative to the other to aline teeththereof having predetermined impression making devices, a shaftsupported to rotate on an axis extending parallelly of the axis of thefixed shaft and to have axial adjustment, a gear fixed on said rotaryshaft adapted by the axial adjustment of the rotary shaft to be meshedwith the teeth of any one of the juxtaposed wheels and operative by therotation of the rotary shaft to rotate said wheel in mesh therewith toaline a tooth with a predetermined character thereon with teeth of theother juxtaposed wheels having predetermined characters, and a secondrotary shaft having a pinion and rack connection with the first rotaryshaft adapted to adjust said first rotary shaft axially in oppositedirections and position the gear thereon in mesh with teeth of apredetermined impression making wheel. MAX BAYERDORFFER.

